Contacting your student abroad
Since technology varies between countries, communicating with students can be frustrating at times. Here are a few tips:
- Time difference - Remember that this can delay when messages are received and responded to. We recommend using a website such as timeanddate.com and setting a Personal World Clock to the country your student is in to always know what the local time is there.
- Email - For general correspondence, it is usually the fastest, easiest, cheapest and most convenient.
- Phone calls - Follow this method:
- International Access Code + Country Code + City Code (if there is one) + Local Number
- International access code from the United States and Canada is 011.
- Find country and city codes.
- Wait at least 45 seconds to hear ringing to account for a slight delay in the phone lines.
- International Access Code + Country Code + City Code (if there is one) + Local Number
- Emergencies - Make sure to get an in-country emergency number for your student before he/she leaves. The Off-Campus Programs office has emergency contact numbers for its program directors. It may also have your student's number, depending on what information we has received from him/her.
Visiting your student
While we understand the desire of family and friends to visit students who are away from home and campus for a significant length of time, such visits can be disruptive and therefore harmful to group cohesiveness if not done with sensitivity to other students and the program director. The following policies and procedures are based on our experience with such situations:
- Any visitor to a Calvin off-campus program must notify the program director at least 3 weeks in advance.
- Family and friends should plan their visit to coincide with vacation and/or other periods of free time for students. If this is not possible, family and friends are urged not to visit at times when group excursions are planned.
- Students whose family or friends are visiting while classes are in session are not excused from classes or program excursions in order to be with visiting family or friends.
- Visitors may not stay in the student’s room. Visitors should stay in a hotel or youth hostel.
If you plan to visit an off-campus student, you must sign a Visitor's Waiver (8KB 
) and take it with you to the program site. The completed waiver should be given to the program director on the arrival day.
